AI Note-Taking Apps for Lawyers

The top two, and which is best for you—depending on circumstances

Using AI apps like Otter and Fireflies to capture better notes in meetings and conversations is a game-changer for lawyers.

Here are the three primary reasons.

1. Powerful recording options

These apps enable powerful recording capabilities like these:

• Real-Time Recording: capture audio in real-time, ensuring that no part of the conversation is missed. This is particularly useful for lawyers who need to document every detail of a client meeting or deposition.

• Useful Integrations: enable automatic recording of Zoom sessions, Google Meetings, etc.

• Speaker Identification: the apps distinguish between different speakers in any conversation, which is incredibly useful —especially when recording several people in a single meeting.

• Audio File Uploads: upload audio files from other sources, such as phone calls or in-person meetings, for fast, reliable transcription and analysis.

• Easy Sharing: quickly send recordings and transcripts to others with an easy-to-grab link.

2. Accurate transcripts

Both apps provide almost perfect transcripts within minutes after the meeting is over.

But Otter will do live transcription during Zoom meetings (sort of like a court reporter but faster and less expensive).

This capability is invaluable for lawyers who require accurate records of many different types of conversations and meetings.

3. Useful summaries

AI note-taking apps generate concise summaries of meetings, highlighting key points, decisions, and action items. This helps you quickly get essential takeaways without having to read through an entire transcript.

✅ Other useful features

• Automatic Task Lists: both Fireflies & Otter automatically identify action items from meetings, which many people find incredibly useful.

• Shared Comments: users can comment on specific parts of conversations, which improves collaboration among team members.

• Conversation Analysis: Fireflies.ai provides analytics related to speaker talk times and flags questions. The sentiment analysis feature could help lawyers assess a client's emotional state during a consultation.

• Smart Phone app: both Fireflies and Otter have apps that run on your phone, which makes it easy to record any conversation that the mic on your phone can pick up.

Conclusion

AI note-taking apps like Otter and Fireflies are changing how lawyers capture, analyze, and act on information shared in meetings and conversations.

I’ve used both Otter and Fireflies for over a year now, and I can confirm that their capabilities overlap by about 97%. But if you want to know what the small differences are, read on…